Move on to Save the Strand Area residents hope to convert theater into local arts center

By Michelle Kingston

mkingston@fosters.com

Thursday, March 7, 2013

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Kevin Duffy, a creative director for the Duffy Agency, speaks at the Dover Library about a revitalization project of The Strand, that was at one time a local theater on Third Street.

DOVER — The first of many Save the Strand meetings was held Tuesday night at the library, drawing in more than 30 residents to discuss how the community could bring a local arts center to the theater currently up for sale.

Dover residents Kevin Duffy and Autumn Allen directed the meeting, writing several ideas on large yellow pieces of paper in the lecture hall, such as who to contact for more information on starting a 501c3 and what events people would like to see happen at the Strand.

One piece of paper included who to call, in which the Music Hall, Ioka Theater, Rochester Opera House and the Ogunquit Playhouse were listed.

Attendees said they would like to see classic movies and independent films played at the Strand, as well as live music shows, comedy nights, prose and poetry readings, silent films and live performances.

The theater on Third Street is on the market for just under $700,000.

According to Allen, the realtor has been unreachable, when she and other people involved in saving the Strand have called with interest in purchasing the property.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Aimee Blesing, co-founder of Theater. Unmasked, speaks at the “Save the Strand” meeting at the Dover Public Library Tuesday evening.

At this time, Allen said they are still trying to brainstorm ideas on how to buy the theater, but that making it a nonprofit seems to be the best opportunity so far.

She said that Duffy’s idea, to become a 501c3, means that an established nonprofit would have to represent them as their status is pending.

Duffy said the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce is currently organizing a task force and is putting together a feasibility study that will be completed by the end of summer or early fall of this year.

“The study will take these ideas here and put them into a more specific action,” Allen said.

Molly Hodgson Smith, the executive director of the chamber, who was unable to attend the meeting, said Wednesday that they applied for, and were successful in, securing a small grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Piscataqua Region, to conduct the study, which will take anywhere from four to six months to complete.

“The study will show what would be an economically viable model for revitalizing the Strand Theater,” Hodgson Smith said.

The chamber is currently in the process of drafting an RFP to hire a consultant specializing in historic theater renovation projects. Hodgson Smith said the RFP should be done within the next couple of weeks.

“The consultant will do an inventory of other cultural aspects in the community and will look at the buildings and its structure and some of the costs associated with what would be involved in refurbishing it,” she said.

Hodgson Smith said it is important to note the chamber is providing initial leadership “to get the wheels in motion,” but is in no means the driving force behind the project.

“It is also important to manage the expectations of the community that this is a really important and long term undertaking and in order to do it, and do it well, we need to be careful and very strategic about it,” she said.

Hodgson Smith said the idea of the arts center was very community driven.

“We did a pretty extensive session at the last Apple Harvest Day,” she said. “We conducted a community survey outside the Strand and asked what people would like to see there and most of the responses centered around having an arts and cultural community center.”

Save the Strand’s Facebook page was created just a month ago and already has close to 900 likes.

“It’s not just the two of us up here,” Allen said of her and Duffy, echoing Hodgson Smith’s comment. “It is about community involvement and getting that moving forward.”

Representatives from Garrison Hill Players and the Rochester Opera House were at the meeting, according to Allen, as well as a local resident who books musical acts in the area.

She said although they do have to work on how to purchase the Strand, the most important aspect right now is bringing in a local arts center to Dover and getting the community invested in the idea.